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Here at Handmade By Me, when we are not making lots of our own designs and products, we work with others to help them create their own, or we can also create them for them. One of our most exciting projects that we have worked on recently, was to create a bespoke suite of decor products to sell exclusively at the brand new Trading Company shop at Spice Route wine farm.

I was really lucky to work with some wonderful and really creative people on this, which made the project not only interesting for me, but lots of fun! With the original spice trade and travel routes in mind, we worked with 3 different design themes where we created a range of products (cushion covers, tea towels and placemats) within each theme. The different themes we explored for The Trading Company were botanicals, particularly botanicals of the spices which were produced/used during the spice trade such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, and turmeric . The second theme was exotic lands, places in Africa and Asia which were actively involved in the spice trade. And the third theme was old-world hand painted tiles, mostly because we just love the look of them, and they tie in beautifully with the shop aesthetic, but they also compliment some of the beautiful hand painted tiles which you can find in and around the shop and farm.

Unfortunately we didn’t have any time between the order being ready, and the shop opening, so we didn’t get a chance to shoot the individual products themselves. But I have put together some digital images of the products within their themes, and below you will find some photos of them and the shop.

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to visit Spice Route, here is a little more information about it and the shop The Trading Company (isn’t their logo just the prettiest?).

“The Spice Route experience is a completely unique concept for the wine and hospitality industry. A carefully curated selection of artisans showcase their produce and share their knowledge with both the public and each other. The collaborative environment allows for endless discoveries and a truly delectable journey.“The vision for Spice Route is to offer local and international tourists a selection of hand-picked artisanal producers who put as much thought, skill and passion into their products as Spice Route Winemaker, Charl du Plessis, puts into his wines,” says Spice Route Wines Owner, Charles Back.The latest addition to the Spice Route family of ‘craft’ is The Trading Company – a quirky store that’s decor is an eclectic mix of old and new. The store fits in perfectly with the Spice Route philosophy and is making authentic, and hand crafted products even more accessible to the public.The array of carefully selected bespoke home ware, exotic furniture, premium baby products, one of a kind jewelry, and notebooks, sold at the store, are a true celebration of local design. The store will primarily stock authentically handmade, limited edition pieces crafted by our very own local artists, and the small amount of Turkish and Indian products is a ‘must have’ treasure for the adventurous soul. Most of the products are made from natural and raw materials. All décor used in the store is also handmade locally, or up-cycled by local artists.”

Happy new year errrrr’body!!! Its back to work for most of you this week, so we thought we’d save our happy cheery new year blog post for now rather than last week when most of you were still sipping cocktails on a beach somewhere : ) New years bring new designs, new products, new friends, new collaborations and hopefully lots of exciting new adventures…which, I am delighted to say, we are already in the process of creating….so, as always, watch this space!

And as most of you may have realised by now, 2015 is the year that Marty McFly traveled to in Back to the Future Part II. Here’s a sneak peek of what we will be expected to wear this year ; )

But seriously wishing all the Handmade By Me friends and family a happy, healthy, successful and a hopefully less dramatically fashionable year ahead!

And while we’re at it, some of our napkins were used in a Christmas table decor shoot for One Day Events in the Sunday Times newspaper just before Christmas. Photos by (the seriously talented) Lar. The great thing about these beautiful table settings is that they aren’t only for Christmas!! Click here to get your hands on our Geometric Green napkins now.

Firstly thanks so much to everyone who visited and supported us at both Kamers and Handmade Contemporary this last week(end). We had such a great time and we hope you all did too! Here are a few of the pics we snapped from our space which we shared with Windowsill at Kamers.

Now that we’re back to normal and getting ready for Christmas – eek we know we can’t believe it either – we have some exciting news about a few new stockists we are so happy to be supplying. We don’t want to inundate you all at once, so we will be introducing them individually (and not in any order) to you over the next few weeks : ) For a full list of our stockists please see our stockist page on our website. And if you want to be a stockist please email us.

First up is the lovely Miran & Co. a UK based online lifestyle shop which only launched a few days ago.

“The vision behind Miran & Co. was to create a special place that people could go to find unique & wonderful handmade things by designers from all over the world. From home accessories to fashion, to bath and beauty, Miran & Co. strives to have it all. We’ve hand picked it, just for you. Sure, we’re a little different, but that’s the fun part. After all, who wants to be ordinary?”

I am so excited to be a part of this that I couldn’t resist facebooking and tweeting and now blogging about it. I have always been a big fan of Fab.com and when they asked me to be a part of a South African collection they were working on I couldn’t believe it!

Anyway not only are my products now available to buy on Fab.com but they also managed to shoot them so beautifully. How amazing is this pic using my Pink Vintage Squares tote bag…

Here’s what they have to say about the collection:

“Welcome to DesignTrek. It’s our global mission to uncover the most amazing, affordable (and unheard of) design. First stop: South Africa. This collection represents the country’s community of up-and-coming designers. From home goods to fashion, these colorful wares combine traditional craft methods with modern design.”

I seriously couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this. Check out the sale here and see just some of the amazingly beautiful products that South Africa has to offer the world!

The shop is essentially stocked, paid for, and run by 16 top designers who have all curated their own spaces within the shop. We all make different products including fashion, accessories, homeware and many more. We may have no budget (hence the name), but we have alot of super awesome products to sell! Everything is local and handmade by us.

There will also be a collection of products from other local designers which has been specially curated by Leila and myself. And we even have locally made wrapping paper so we can gift wrap your purchases! Have a look below for our full line-up of available brands!

The shop will run for a month, and we open this Monday the 8th!!! Please spread the word and more importantly pop in and see us. You can also follow us and keep up to date on facebook and twitter!

And the lovely Woodlands Market is now OFFICIALLY EVERY LAST MONDAY EVENING OF THE MONTH! That means there will be one this coming monday the 27th May! With an awesome selection of designers selling awesome products, from art to fashion to jewellery to interiors to plants to food to all kinds of bits and bobs, this is a market that you don’t want to miss out on! Keep up to date and in the know by liking the Woodlands Market facbook page!

To get you in the mood here are a few of the brands and designers who will be selling their wares this monday…

And don’t forget the lovely Will of Willy’s Food will be in the kitchen making his famous prego rolls and willy poppers or something just as amazing sounding…and Lauren Gange-Harris of Flavour-Its will take care of your dessert with her delicious cupcakes… so you can safely assume monday night dinner is sorted!

Here are some pics from the last market courtesy of Leila Badsha of Bow Peep : ) Thanks Leila!

You are also very welcome to order ahead any products from the handmade by me online shop and collect from the market on Monday at no extra charge, that way you can pay online by credit card or eft, have your item/s wrapped, and make sure you don’t miss out on any stock! Please just let me know if you will be collecting there.